Time's up: Elizabeth Holmes to start 11-year prison sentence April 27th ~1~
Story by Zeleb.es•23.04.17 11:00 am
Elizabeth Holmes lost her final bid to delay her sentence
Elizabeth Holmes, convicted fraudster of the defunct Silicon Valley medical company Theranos, has lost her final court bid to delay her sentence. She will report to prison on April 27th to begin her 11-year stint.
Holmes was supported by her partner and parents
Holmes had tried to appeal the sentence, stating that she would be "raising significant questions...that could possibly warrant a new trial," according to the BBC. A judge shut down those hopes, and her date to report to prison has been cemented.
Holmes recently gave birth to her second child
Holmes recently gave birth to her second child with partner Billy Evans. She was granted leniency in delaying her prison term for the delivery of their baby. It seems, though, that she made some questionable choices during that extra time at home.
Elizabeth Holmes tried to warm her cold feet in Mexico during her fraud trial
Holmes appears to have gotten icy feet during her fraud trial in January 2022, with court filings revealing she purchased a one-way ticket to Mexico.
Recently released court documents revealed the purchase
In the recently released documents, it was shown that the government became aware of the flight purchase, alerting the necessary parties. The filings also show that her partner, Billy Evans, bought a one-way ticket to Mexico as well.
The tickets were cancelled when the government became aware
Prosecutors stated in the filing: "Only after the government raised this unauthorized flight... was the trip canceled."
Her attorney later stated that the plans were to attend a wedding
The BBC reporteds that Holmes's attorney told the court the plane tickets were for the couple to attend a wedding, hoping that Holmes would be acquitted. The court called it "ill-advised" to have purchased the tickets and not canceled them upon her conviction.
Holmes was sentenced for her fraudulent operation of Theranos in January 2022
To remind you, Elizabeth Holmes, the wunderkind of medical technological testing, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for the fraudulent operation of her company, 'Theranos,' in January 2022. This is the same month the documents revealed the one-way flight was purchased.
Let's review the Theranos saga from the start, shall we?
Let's take a look at the Theranos saga from the start, shall we? Recapping the hopeful rise of Elizabeth Holmes to her alarming fall from grace.
Elizabeth was ambitious from the start
Holmes grew up in Houston, Texas to a well-off family. In a letter to her father at 9 years old, she wrote that "all she really wanted out of life is to discover something new, something that mankind didn't know was possible to do."
She enrolled at an Ivy League University at 18
In 2002, at 18 years old, Holmes enrolled in Stanford University to study chemical engineering. While there, she began experimenting with medical technology, sparking the idea for her future business.
She had a fear of needles and wanted to change the world
Elizabeth had long been terrified of needles and was on a mission to eliminate the large quantity of blood needed for a simple blood test, while simutaneously wanting to lower analysis costs and increase their global accessibility.
She was a college 'Dropout' by 19
At 19 years old, Holmes decided to drop out of Stanford, taking her family trust fund to form the health technology company Theranos, Inc. - the name a combination of the words "therapy" and "diagnosis."
Sunny Balwani, her boyfriend for a time, co-founded Theranos
She co-founded the company with Sunny Balwani, an American businessman 20 years her senior and her eventual romantic partner for a time. Holmes combined her knowledge of medical technology with her Herculean mission, she was declaring revolutionary blood testing abilities.
It sounded too good to be true...
Theranos' claim was to run 1,000s of medical tests with only a few drops of blood using a groundbreaking nanotainer machine named the 'Edison.' It all sounded unbelievable.
...and it was!
And perhaps it was, because there was a problem. Theranos couldn't get the technology, nor the 'Edison' to function and run the 1,000s of tests it had promised. In fact, the 'Edison' could barely run one blood test successfully.
